I must be the world’s worse blogger. It’s Ramadan, though, so it seems like a great time to pick up where I left off. Actually, the reason I was pushed to come on the blog again is because I’ve gotten a few requests to have compiled copies of all of my work…sorry, but a lot of my work is not in a compiled format on my computer. I work on a lot of the posts as I go (hence the delays). Also, I don’t send personal files on my computer to anyone. JazakAllah khayr for understanding.

This is the continuation of the minor signs of the day of judgment in my Akhirah series. If you’d rather see how a professional writes about this, pick up ‘Umar al Ashqar’s book from his aqueedah series “The Minor Resurrection.” (Although I do tend to just take a lot straight out of his book) 🙂

The Appointment of Unqualified people to Positions of Authority

“The right man in the right place” is one of the most important principles, without which human life cannot run smoothly. Hence, the periods in which highly qualified people, who were also righteousand pious, were appointed are considered the golden ages in the history of our Ummah. The fatal mistakes which lead to corruption in life are the appointment of unqualified people to positions of leadership and authority. These people direct the affairs of life according to their whims and desires.

When asked about the Hour, the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “When (trust and) honesty is lost, watch for the Hour.” The man who asked said, “How will it be lost?” The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “When unqualified people are appointed (to the positions of authority and leadership), watch for the Hour.” (Jaami’ al-Usool, 10/396, no. 7904)

At-Tahaawiyyah narrated in Mushkil al-Athaar that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: “Soon, the world will be taken over by the wicked, the sons of the wicked…”

In a hadith narrated by Mu’aawiyyah, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “There will be Imams (leaders) after me who will speak and no one will refute them. They will rush into the Fire like monkeys.” Some of these rulers will be distracted by their desires and pleasures, but some of them just won’t know any better, so they will spread bid’ah and evil amongst the people. This is really scary; we should always be very careful about speaking without knowledge.

So how do we react to such rulers? The Prophet (peace be upon him) told us: “There will be rulers some of whose behavior you will find commendable and some reprehensible. Whoever hates (their behavior) will be free from blame and whoever denounces (them) will be safe, but whoever accepts them and follows them will not be safe.” (Abu Dawood and Muslim)

And in another hadith, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said (in regards to such rulers): “There is no obedience to one who disobeys Allah.”

It should be noted, however, in the cases where the Muslim ruler is following Allah’s law in general, there should be no rebelling against the sinful ruler. This is because of the tribulation and bloodshed that would result from such a rebellion. The sticking together of the jama’ah, or Muslim community, is very important. We have mentioned this previous as well. In a hadith in An-Nasaai, the Prophet (peace be upon him) says:

“…the hand of Allah is with the Jama’ah and the shaytaan is running with the one who departs from the jama’ah.”

The Corruption of the Muslims

Amaanah (or trustworthiness) is the faith and dueties which Allah requires of His slaves, including fulfilling one’s duties with regard to people’s wealth and property. The Prophet (peace be upon him) told us that this would happen gradually.

In a hadith narrrated by Hudhaifah/Hudhayfah:

The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) narrated to us two ahadith. I have seen one (crystallized into reality), and I am waiting for the other. He told us: “Trustworthiness descended in the innermost (root) of the hearts of people. Then the Qur’an was revealed and they learnt from the Qur’an and they learnt from the Sunnah.” Then he (the Holy Prophet) told us about the removal of trustworthiness. He said: “The man would have a wink of sleep and trustworthiness would be taken away from his heart leaving the impression of a faint mark. He would again sleep and trustworthiness would be taken away from his heart leaving an impression of a blister, as if you rolled down an ember on your foot and it was vesicled. He would see a swelling having nothing in it.” He (the Holy Prophet) then took up a pebble and rolled it down over his foot and (said):

“The people would enter into transactions amongst one another and hardly a person would be left who would return (things) entrusted to him. (And there would be so much paucity of honest persons) till it would be said: ‘There in such a such tribe is a trustworthy man.’ And they would also say about a person: How prudent he is, how broad-minded he is and how intelligent he is, whereas in his heart there would not be faith even to the weight of a mustard seed.”

I have passed through a time in which I did not care with whom amongst you I entered into a transaction, for if he were a Muslim his faith would compel him to discharge his obligations to me and it he were a Christian or a Jew, the ruler would compel him to discharge his obligations to me. But today I would not enter into a transaction with you except so and so. (Muslim, Book of Emaan)

The Slave Woman Will Give Birth to Her Mistress…

This sign of the day of judgment is a very well known one. It is mentioned in the hadith Jibreel, when he came to ask about the religion, though I didn’t cover that bit in great detail.

Jibreel asked the Prophet (peace be uon him) about the Hour, to which he responded, “The one being asked does not know more than the one asking.” He said, “Tell me about its signs.” He answered, “The slave-girl shall give birth to her master, and you will see the barefooted, scantily-clothed, destitute shepherds competing in constructing lofty buildings.” (Muslim)

‘Umar al-Ashqar says that this literally refers to concubines giving birth to their masters. Because a childn born to a slave is free, and if the father was the slave girl’s master, that would make the child her master. (A bit confusing, I know). This has indeed happened and a lot of the children born to these slave women did indeed become kings and rulers.

The interpretation that I heard growing up, which is the opinion held by Ibn Hajar as I found out, is that children would become so disobedient with their mothers that it would be as if a master were dealing with their slave. This has also clearly been seen already. If you look at recent history (by “recent”, I mean just a few hundred years ago), the treatment of parents was insanely different. There was much more respect for them. Nowadays, there is disrespect and ungratefulness to such a point that children verbally and physically abuse their parents. Imagine treating a man and woman who took care of you lovingly since birth and did the world for you with such disrespect and sense of ownership! Islam – and sheer common sense – teaches us quite the opposite. We should serve them as they took care of us when we were little, and make du’aa for them: waqulrabbi irhamhuma kama rabbayanee sagheera.

“My Lord, have mercy upon them as they brought me up [when I was] small.” (see 17:24)